“Fuck You, Feds!” – Pro Independence Manchester NH Senate Candidate at 420 Rally

Carla Gericke, recently profiled along with me in a detailed piece by NHPR, made an appearance with me and other liberty activists yesterday at the annual Concord, NH 420 rally.

Carla’s the former president of the Free State Project and the current president of the Foundation for New Hampshire Independence, an outreach group that promotes New Hampshire’s peaceful exit from the United States. She didn’t hold back in her short-but-sweet speech at the 420 celebration at the state house steps, telling the federal government, “Fuck you”, as she announced her second attempt at running as a “pro-gun, anti-war” republican for the Manchester NH senate seat against a longtime incumbent democrat.

In the video, I also included the full video of her longer speech from 2017, since last year’s coverage only included highlights and I dropped the ball on finishing production of the full speeches. Here are both of Carla’s excellent speeches from 2018 and 2017’s 420 rallies at the Concord state house:

She looks great, by the way – you can really see a positive change in her between the two rallies. She told me she’s been off alcohol completely for six months – congrats!

More video is coming from other speakers at the rally, including the triumphant return of Rich Paul to the rally he created, so do subscribe to the Free Keene Youtube channel for the latest.

NHPR’s Feature Piece on Free State Project (& Free Keene) + Full Interview Audio

New Hampshire Public Radio Logo

New Hampshire Public Radio Posts Feature on NH Freedom Migration

Thanks to New Hampshire Public Radio reporter Taylor Quimby (originally from the Keene area) for his detailed and well-researched report on the Free State Project, which delves into the history of the project, the diversity of opinions of its movers, their effectiveness and impact in New Hampshire, including plenty of focus on Free Keene – one of the top blogs in NH that chronicles the NH Freedom Migration, focusing on Keene.

The audio version of the report is excellent, with audio that doesn’t appear in the printed version. Both editions are lengthy, so settle in for a good long read or listen.

Besides a few minor quibbles, Taylor’s reporting is fair and the audio version is quite entertaining. I laughed out loud a few times.

In case you were curious, I’ve uploaded the full hourlong interview Taylor did with me where we discussed the Keene 420s, how I found the Free State Project and its early history, the start of Free Talk Live, my early discovery of libertarianism, Robin Hooding, the NH freedom migration, Shire Society, Forkfest and schisms in the movement, the Shire Free Church, Porcfest, cryptocurrency in NH, the FSP-FTL breakup, decentralization, and the (in my opinion) success of the Free State Project:

One of the quibbles I have with the NHPR report is the audio used as evidence of the Robin Hooders‘ supposed bad behavior is actually audio of hater Rev. David Berman when he was haranguing Robin Hooder Graham Colson. To my knowledge no Robin Hooder ever behaved like Berman and purposefully invaded the Parking Enforcers’ personal space (and the Enforcers under oath in the case never said the Hooders ever did such a thing). (more…)

VIDEO: Indie Journalist Dave Ridley Gets Booted From KSC Campus by Keene Police

Proving he’s the most consistent, longest-running activist in the Shire, Dave Ridley from RidleyReport.com once again returns to Keene to occupy the hallways and confront bureaucrats and politicians with tough questions. If you want to jump straight to the encounter with Keene Police, it’s here. However, if you have time, it’s one of a series of entertaining videos Ridley recorded while attempting to attend a “public” meeting at Keene State College.

Ridley is known for his excellent “ambush” interviews of politicians and bureaucrats and this series doesn’t disappoint with ridiculous reactions a-plenty. In the initial video in the series, he actually gets some answers to his questions from city councilor Phil Jones:

Immediately after, the interactions return to what longtime Ridley Report viewers expect from bureaucrats and political people that Ridley ambushes – evading, cowardice, and excuses: (more…)

Libertarians Counterprotest Anti-Gun Event in Keene

This weekend there were nationwide anti-gun protests across the United States and one of them happened in Keene’s Central Square on Saturday morning. Nationally syndicated talk radio program “Free Talk Live” co-host Chris Rietmann came out with a sign announcing he was an AR-15 owner and inviting people to talk to him. Another talk show host, Vincent Freeman from “Questioning Authority” was there to document:

Also appearing in favor of freedom in the video is Robert from Vermont, a regular Free Talk Live caller. For all the people in NH who want to ban guns, they should just move to Massachusetts and they’ll instantly attain their goals.

Rietmann is a regular Thursday night co-host on Free Talk Live and Vincent’s show is live on Saturday nights. Both shows are streamed live now on Twitch in HD and of course are available in audio form via streaming and satellite on LRN.FM.

My Pullover, Trial, and Sentencing for “Misuse of Plates”

In April of 2017 Darryl and I were traveling back to Keene from Taco Beyondo in Hillsborough (they accept Bitcoin Core and DASH, by the way) and were waylaid by four armed, uniformed men. They surrounded the car and issued a written threat over what they call “misuse of plates” due to the Shire Society plate on the back of the car at the time.

This video contains the original pullover from April 2017, the full trial at Hillsborough District Court in New Hampshire in January 2018 and then the sentencing hearing from February 2018.

I was found guilty and sentenced to twelve hours of community service – but I had fun asking the cop some interesting questions in court. Enjoy the video: